Changes in Family-Level Attitudes and Norms and Association with Secondary School Completion and Child Marriage Among Adolescent Girls: Results from an Exploratory Study Nested Within a Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial in India
Outcomes: Child, Early, and Forced Marriage
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways Indirect norms—like expectations to protect family honor by limiting girls’ freedom—powerfully shape girls’ futures. Effective interventions must target not just households but also the broader social networks that uphold these practices.
Objectives This study evaluated the impact of the Samata intervention, a three-year multilayered program in northern Karnataka, India, designed to increase secondary school retention and delay child marriage among rural adolescent girls from marginalized Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities. It aimed to understand how family-level social norms and attitudes shape girls’ education and marriage outcomes and whether the intervention could shift these norms.
Methods Using a cluster-randomized controlled trial, researchers conducted baseline surveys in 2014 with 2,457 adolescent girls (aged ~12–16) and 2,257 family members, followed by endline surveys in 2016–2017 with 1,788 girls and 1,840 family members. Structured questionnaires measured attitudes, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and beliefs about social sanctions, focusing on education, marriage, mobility, and harassment. Mixed-effects regression models assessed changes over time and associations with girls’ outcomes.
Intervention Details Samata offered life skills and academic support to girls, engaged boys through sports for gender equality, sensitized parents, linked families to government scholarships, and worked with schools to improve governance and safety, all aiming to shift individual, family, and community norms.
Results The intervention did not produce significant overall changes in family attitudes or norms regarding girls’ education, child marriage, or mobility. However, some attitudes around delaying marriage became slightly more progressive, while norms around girls’ education and freedom became more restrictive after puberty. Strong associations were found between indirect injunctive norms (family honor, fear of social judgment) and girls’ risk of dropping out or marrying early.
Conclusions Shifting deeply rooted norms, particularly those tied to family reputation, proved difficult within the program’s timeframe. While Samata addressed practical barriers, its limited direct engagement with families reduced its broader normative impact. National trends toward rising school retention and declining child marriage also complicated effect detection.
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